City spokeswoman Sana Syed said her office has been in talks with the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau about using the “D” in that agency’s “DALLAS” logo to replace the icon the city has used since 1972.

The city already has started making use of the bureau’s “BIG” campaign, Syed said. Using the bureau’s “D” would further help create an effective brand, she said.

Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez said the talks have been informal. Nothing will happen without City Council approval. A briefing before the council is scheduled for next month.

Some council members are skeptical about changing the logo.

Newcomer Mark Clayton said he doesn’t want the city to switch just because bureau officials say it should.

It’s “a fallacious statement to say we need to do it,” Clayton told Syed at the end of a council briefing Wednesday.

“All we’re doing is looking at branding the city,” Syed said a day later. “Right now, the city doesn’t have an identifiable brand. A logo doesn’t make a brand.”

City archivist John Slate said the current logo — a blue “D” with a green tree inside — is meant to look modern and project a feeling of greenery, growth and concern for the environment. Syed says that at best it’s outdated.

Syed said she knows it’s a no-win issue.

“We have gotten comments: ‘Why does this logo look so old?’ ‘What’s that leaf in the middle?’” she said. “If we change the logo, people will say, ‘But why? You’ve had it in place for decades.’

“Just because you recognize it, does it mean it’s OK to hold on to for another 50 years?”